She’s finally on her way to see Paris in the springtime, but halfway to the airport she suddenly thinks, "Oh no, did I leave the Air Conditioner on?” So she pulls out her smartphone and checks its status, turns it off, and schedules it to turn back on in two weeks, when she’s arriving back from France.
Smart home technology sounds wonderfully, temptingly convenient. But surprisingly, it has yet to really take off. The smart home market is expected to grow much more quickly in the near future, however. It is estimated that by 2020, in just four years, penetration of smart home technology will triple, to over 18% of US households. Market volume is expected to increase by over 20% annually. Home automation tech will see the biggest increase, followed closely by entertainment tech. During the next few years, if the predictions are true, smart home technology may become a much more common aspect of the residential construction business.
For now, many people are probably put off by the apparent complexity or cost of building an entire smart home system. You can help your clients get their feet wet in a much less intimidating way, with a stand-alone smart appliance that can significantly increase the comfort of a home, and potentially reduce energy consumption: A wi-fi enabled window air conditioner like the Frigidaire FGRC0844S1. It’s also a good way for you to better understand the market for smart home tech, and see how it could fit into your business.
This is a new generation of air conditioner, a smart device that has built-in abilities to time and schedule its operation. Moreover, the wi-fi connection means that a homeowner can control it over the Internet using an app on a smartphone. The easy-to-use app allows remotely checking its status, turning it on and off, setting the temperature, changing the fan speed, and setting or changing a schedule. From across the room, it’s like a convenient remote control, and it works just as well from across the continent.
An air conditioner with built-in smart control not only increases convenience, it decreases wasted energy and money. It can be scheduled for activity only when you need it, even set for specific temperature changes to occur at specific times of day. It has three fan speeds, and an 8,000 BTU capacity good for cooling large rooms up to 350 square feet.
The advantages of automated scheduling and control over the internet are numerous. The residents always come home to a cool house without leaving the AC running all day. They never worry about children forgetting to turn off the AC. They can turn on relief for pets left at home on an unexpectedly hot day. And it can all be done easily, quietly, and discreetly from a mobile device.
The beauty of a wi-fi connected appliance is that it doesn’t require complex installation. There’s no special wiring needed, it works with the home’s existing wi-fi network. There’s no difficult programming to set it up, because that’s all been taken care of by the matching phone app.
Equipping a new home with wi-fi enabled air conditioning can add attraction to the property without busting the budget. It’s also natural add-on to a remodel, a perfect complement to energy-efficient replacement windows, controlling temperature and further reducing energy wastage. Smart home tech is on the rise, and the Frigidaire wi-fi enabled air conditioner is a great place to start.
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